Environmental Hazards
Throughout your journey through a sector, upon arriving at a beacon there will sometimes be a environmental hazard present, which usually impedes your ship in some fashion. Do note that any other ships at the beacon will, with some exceptions, receive the exact same effects. Class-M Red Giant Star Beacon coordinates appear to be very close to a nearby sun. The game will warn you with a "Solar flare imminent" message before it happens, upon which random fires will be set in the ship, dealing damage to a system if it spawns in a room with a system in it, and potentially dealing hull damage at the same time if the system is destroyed. While Shields are said to reduce the effect, even max shields don't entirely negate it. See Red Giant Events. Nebula The nebula here will make fleet pursuit slower but will disrupt your sensors. Nebula disrupt use of the Sensors sub-system. The Slugs telepathic abilities give them an advantage here. Some sectors are completely covered with nebula, in other sectors a section of the beacons on the FTL map may be covered by nebula. Whether or not the AI of the game is impeded by missing sensors is unknown as they attack random areas inside and outside nebulas. The speed of which the rebels chase you is reduced while inside a nebula - by 50% outside of nebula sectors and by 30% inside nebula sectors. Nebulas do not count as environmental hazards for the purpose of the Tactical Approach achievement. See Nebula Events. Plasma Storm This section of the nebula is experiencing an ion storm. Inside large clouds, nebula hazards also have a chance of being paired with a plasma storm, which makes your reactor run at half-efficiency. In these, it is best to shut off all non-essential systems (such as the medbay) so that there is enough power for the weapons/drones if you intend to fight, or for the engines and shields if you intend to run or leave if the beacon is empty. Oxygen may be automatically depowered in a plasma storm so upon exit be sure to power it up. In fact, it is usually best to make oxygen the highest priority in power usage, especially if the fight starts to become drawn out. Notably, enemy ships' reactors are also halved, which can make the battle easier. However, like you, they can re-allocate power when systems are damaged or destroyed, potentially doubling their shields or deploying a new weapon mid-battle. This tends to make plasma storm fights a strategic headache. The battery backup subsystem and the power from Zoltan crew members are unaffected by plasma storms, making them very useful in nebula zones. See Plasma Storm Events. Asteroid Field Asteroid field detected in this location. Asteroids will periodically attempt to hit your ship. They will either knock down a single shield layer or deal 1 point of hull/system damage to a random room on the ship. Like some Lasers, they have a small chance to cause a fire or a breach. They have the same effect on the enemy ship, should you be fighting one. The interval between each asteroid is random. At worst, a ship with only 1 shield with either an unmanned or inexperienced crew member manning shields, can be hit by 1 asteroid, and hit by another before the shields regenerate. Thus, having at least 2 layers of shields is very valuable within an asteroid field. Asteroid fields are a great place to level up your crew in shields. This experience can only be gained during battle, even though asteroids will continue impacting your shields afterwards. See Asteroid Field Events. Pulsar A pulsar is flooding this area with dangerous electromagnetic forces. The game will warn you of an ion pulse before a pulse from the star, just like the solar flare from the Red giant or the target lock on the Planet-side battery. The pulse causes 2 or 3 ion damage on one system, shields first if they are up, and 1 ion damage to another random system even if they are. If the shields are down, all ion damage will be done to a second random system instead. Hitting pulsating star beacons early-game can be deadly, as your shields are still very low, thus it is best to finish battles as quickly as possible here. If you are fighting an enemy ship, they will also be affected. The star will continue to pulse even after combat, so it is suggested you leave right before another pulse hits. Ion damage will carry over to the next beacon, so be cautious where you jump. Since it is ion damage, sporting a Zoltan Shield - which takes double ion damage - is particularly ineffective, and it will be taken out in one hit; another good reason to stay away from pulsars when using a Zoltan ship layout. Anti-Ship Battery (ASB) Planet-side anti-ship batteries are detected in this system. PLEASE NOTE: The ASB is not considered an Environmental Hazard for the Stealth Cruiser achievement Tactical Approach. Planet-Side Batteries periodically fire a shield-piercing 3-damage shot (which can miss, albeit infrequently without cloaking), hits a random room, and always causes a hull breach. This weapon also bypasses Zoltan shields; the Zoltan shield takes no damage, but the ship will take hull damage. ASBs are fairly rare and often avoidable, but encountering them at any point in the game can be extremely dangerous. When you have few crew or inexperienced repairmen, as it is easy to get bogged down with repairing the breaches and systems. The hull damage over time is not to be underestimated; 10 shots will take down a fully-repaired ship. Since the damage is unblockable, escaping from this hazard speedily should be your first priority. It is notable that, although many shots will be animated firing at you during this hazard, the only one that connects is the shot that you are loudly forewarned about. This is probably on account of the battery's inability to effectively target you, seeing as it is supposed to be located far below you on the orbiting planet's surface. Planet-side Batteries are present in Rebel Controlled sectors, making them even more deadly. A Planet-side Battery will also be present if you get overtaken by the Rebel Fleet, except if you are at the exit beacon and playing in easy mode. Friendly ASBs can be found taking down enemy ships during rare events, mostly in Abandoned sectors. Category:Guides